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Holy man's dream raises Indian gold treasure hopes

Updated
Tue 22 Oct 2013, 7:04 AM AEDT

Photo

Onlookers stand at the site where the state archaeological survey of India has sent a team of archaeologists to start digging at Daudiakala village in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where a civic-minded Hindu village sage dreamt that 1,000 tons of gold was buried under a ruined palace.

Reuters

Indian archaeologists say they have found historical artefacts at the site where a holy man dreamt there was a large cache of gold buried.

The archaeologists began digging at the ruins of a centuries-old fort last week, three months after swami Shoban Sarkar told a junior minister about his dream of a 1,000-tonne gold treasure.

A media storm has developed in the impoverished village of Daudiakala, in Uttar Pradesh state, attracting large numbers of locals and forcing the authorities to erect barricades.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) said it began excavations following findings by the Geological Survey of India (GSI), which suggested there could be gold or silver buried at the site.

The fort belonged to Hindu king Raja Rao Ram Bux Singh.

The monarch was executed in 1857 after taking part in 1857 revolution against the British Empire in India.

The Junior Minister reportedly told the GSI about the gold after the holy man said the dead king appeared in his dream and asked him to recover the gold stash.

The AIS has denied claims that the excavation was a gold hunt, instead underscoring its aim of recording the fort's cultural heritage.

"It is a trial excavation and so far we have cleared soil up to a depth of 1.5 metres (five feet) and yesterday we found a medieval wall, earthen jars and pots, a hearth and a floor," ASI's excavation chief Syed Jamal Hasan told AFP.

"Archaeologists anywhere in the world do not dig for gold and treasures and here we are interested only in discovering the site's cultural heritage."

He said a 12-member team would keep digging as long as there were signs of human habitation.

The guru, swami Shoban Sarkar, said he was concerned about India's "collapsing economy" and went on to write to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Reserve Bank of India about the "hidden treasure".

In 2011, a hoard of golden Hindu idols, precious stones and other treasures were unearthed in the vault of a 16th century temple in the southern state of Kerala.

That discovery is estimated by some to be valued at more than $US1 billion.